By Laura Sperber - Legend Numismatics

Whew, what a show! It by far blew away our expectations. The show itself did the trick, as many collectors appeared, not just the locals, to shop and BUY the coins they needed. Even though GOLD is strong, generics or that area did not drive this show. This is one of the few major shows we have attended in the past year where BOTH retail and WHOLESALE were strong for us.

The attendance of both dealers and collectors was far greater than what we had anticipated. Even PNG day was active. Part of why also may have been the fact there were no major shows in the past 3 weeks (which does seem like an eternity). Most important, everyone’s attitude was upbeat and no one complained about the timing of the show (it wasn’t on top of a show, no religious holiday, tax time was over, etc).

As with all the shows this year, this show was especially dry of great coins. Sure, there was lots dreck around, BUT (big BUT) it seems more collectors were willing to step up and pay strong for real quality. People are appreciating great coins again and they clearly are rising to the values they deserve to be at.

We saw many collectors complain about their hunger for coins. You can’t go out and buy GEM Bust material, great Type, or even something like a GEM better date and higher grade Peace Dollar. There was one dealer we know who was trying to buy for the 5 GEM Morgan sets and who knows how many GEM Saint Saints he is building. We also saw someone who represented a substantial investor trying to spend a few million (yes million) but were totally stymied by lack of coins. Then there were the smaller collectors who always buy a coin or two at a major show telling us they couldn’t find anything. Mark our words prices WILL rise soon.

The CAC market is super strong. We have already seen clear-cut extreme demand and in just about very case, prices are at serious premiums. Every dealer we spoke to who handles CAC told us they sold most of what they had in the beginning of the show. The skeptics and boo birds who tried their best to hurt CAC now are clearly seeing it is a true force in the market and is unquestionably growing each day.

THE AUCTION SCENE

These days, auctions are probably one of the best ways to gauge the market and pricing. The Heritage CSNS Sale was whacked out strong! Yet again, fresh, accurately graded, and eye appealing coins sold for “moon money”.

One of the most famous pieces from the sales was the 1914 1C PCGS PR68RD. (photo above) It sold for $126,500.00. Even in our own turf, Seated Dollars we couldn’t buy what we wanted-one of the few times we have ever been out bid on something we wanted to own: the 1855 $1 NGC MS64 $149,500.00 sold on spec to a dealer! We weren’t buying it for our Legend Collection as we felt our 63+ was sufficient (whew, that would have been at least $125,000.00 for one less tick). But we know what we have not seen so we got a little carried away with our bidding (we figured the coin at $100G max-what we thought was a crazy number). The dealer told us he remembered the coin from years ago and believes it is the finest 1855. There was one other dealer right in there up to about $100G as well. This is exact proof of the crazy no limits mentality on better coins in auctions. Other notable sales:

1C 1858 PCGS PR65 CAC $32,200.00
1c 1903 PCGS MS66RD CAC $3,220.00
H.10 1842 NGC PR68 UC $92,000.00
10C 1860 PCGS PR66 CAC $7,475.00
25C 1873 W/A NGC PR66 CAC $25,300.00
25C 1892 PCGS PR68 UC CAC $27,600.00
$1 1855 NGC M64 CAC $149,500.00
$1 1873CC NGC AU55 $48,875.00
$1 1877CC PCGS MS63 $17,250.00
$1 1879S PCGS MS68 CAC $19,500.00
$1 LAFAYETTE PCGS MS67 CAC $86,250.00
$2.5 1909 PCGS MS66 $20,700.00
$5 1857S PCGS AU58 $7,475.00
$20 1910S PCGS MS66 $29,900.00

And of course, the BIG coin: $1 1804 NGC PR62 $3,737,750.00!

These are not even a 1/4 of the zany prices realized! Unfortunately the bourse floor at major shows reveals only a scattered killer coin or two. Most of the action at the major shows is now taking place at auctions.

LEGEND BUYS THE BUCKEYE COLLECTION

If some of you noticed on Friday of the show our staff was a little light. We had a call from a major long time customer earlier in the week that was supposed to bring part of his collection to the show and sell it to us. Something came up and next thing we knew, we were on one of those small regional jets sitting through a bumpy ride. It worked out better for both parties (that he didn’t go to CSNS) as he sold us far more than what he would have brought to the show. Everything he offered us we purchased-including offering him far more than he expected on many coins. The deal was well OVER $1,000,000.00.

He was so happy with what we did; he invited us back in 2 weeks to buy the rest! Part II of the Buckeye Collection is a multimillion-dollar group of killer PR type (the gold is down the road)! These coins have been of the market for a VERY long time!

This is a great example of how working with a good dealer (whether at auction or straight sales) can make your coin collecting experience easy. We were fair selling to him. We sold him real quality (which is always easy to buy back). He wants to sell, BOOM! We are there in almost 24 hours with immediate funds. And of course, we paid him VERY strong prices for his coins.

We do thank Mr. Buckeye for his continued business and friendship.

ITS NEARLY AUCTION TIME!

Morphy/Legend Auctions is getting closer to its first sale. We open up our web site for LIVE bidding April 28th.

Included in this sale are many true quality-and FRESH coins. We have a ton of generic gold-all fresh only graded once (all with NO reserve)!

What will set us apart from other auction houses will be three things:

#1 We work for BOTH the consignor AND the buyer. So many times all we hear about is pleasing the consignor. As major buyers in the auction world, we know how we want to be treated. We don’t like prices being run up, poor service, or bad personnel. We believe a happy buyer is every bit as important as a happy consignor.

#2 Our staff. They will listen and do everything to make your bidding experience (and buying we hope) positive. Their experience with auctions is extensive.

#3 The quality we sell. We never expect to be a $25 million per sale auction house. We want to stay focused on quality. Smaller focused sales are what we are striving for. We strive for our descriptions to be so accurate you would be comfortable buying a coin sight UNSEEN (we don’t appreciate surprises either).

We invite you participate. Due to many last minute consignments, we do not expect to have all the coins posted for the previews. Of course ALL will posted April 28th.

LEGEND’S 1C 1909 VDB NGC PR68* RB

We knew it would be a draw. Everyone loved it-including all the major copper players. Sorry to say it really was not for sale-at any price! We did receive TWO real offers (one for $200,000.00 and one person who wanted us just to give him a number). We strongly felt that with all the hoopla over Matte PR 1C, the world needed to see this again. We thank everyone who stopped by to see this treasure. We’ll have other NON-Copper highlights from the same collection at ANA, and take our word on it they are mega cool!

WHAT IS HOT??

We can’t believe it, people were asking for Commems! Next is clearly GEM High grade and more rare Morgans. Anyone have any CAC DMPL’s for sale??? Then everything else that is eye appealing and accurately graded. Overall, at CSNS we noticed very little that was NOT hot.

WHAT IS NOT HOT

Not much. Coins that aren’t accurately graded are seeing steeper discounts. No broken record this Market Report, Commems have made the HOT list (finally)!